Kingdom Animalia Clade Vetigastropoda Family Trochidae Genus Phorcus | Class Gastropoda Superfamily Trochoidea Phylum Mollusca Rank Species | |
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Similar Phorcus, Phorcus mutabilis, Phorcus atratus, Phorcus lineatus, Phorcus sauciatus | ||
Phorcus articulatus is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Trochidae, the top snails.
Contents
Description
The height of the shell varies between 15 mm and 28 mm, its diameter between 21 mm and 24 mm. The shell is imperforate in the adult, generally perforate when immature. It is heavy and thick and has an elongate-conical shape. Its color is cinereous greenish or whitish, spirally traversed by bands composed of alternating white and black purplish or red squarish spots. The intervals between the bands are longitudinally closely lineolate with blackish. The spire is elevated. The shell contains about 6 whorls. The upper ones are slightly convex, the last generally constricted and concave below the suture, then convex. The spiral impressed grooves or lines are like those of Phorcus turbinatus in the young, but become generally obsolete in adult specimens. The aperture has the same shape as in Phorcus turbinatus, but is smaller and less oblique.
Distribution
This species occurs in the following locations: